


Undercover

by Mireille



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Community: maleslashminis, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-04-15
Updated: 2007-04-15
Packaged: 2019-03-18 01:23:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13671321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mireille/pseuds/Mireille
Summary: Going undercover means fitting in with the swim team.





	Undercover

The big drawback to going undercover with the swim team, if you asked Xander, was that now he actually had to  _be on the swim team._  He was an okay swimmer--good enough that nobody had laughed at him during his tryout, anyway--but he had exactly no delusions about whether he'd have made the team if they hadn't been desperate to fill up their roster before they sent it in for the state meet.

The problem was that now that he'd made the team, he had to practice with the team. He didn't do practices. One of the reasons he'd never gone in for sports--after the past year, he had enough "running away" practice that he could do a mean hundred-yard dash--was that it cut into his slacking time.

And today he hadn't just had practice. He'd had Coach Marin shaking his head at his stopwatch and growling, "Gage, I want you to stick around a while after practice. Give Harris a few pointers. Oh, and show him around the steam room."

Xander had had to physically restrain himself from rolling his eyes. Steam room. The showers in the P.E. locker rooms didn't even have hot water, but the  _athletes_  got a  _steam room_.

"Why do we need a steam room?" Xander asked as Gage closed the door. He adjusted the towel around his waist, already starting to sweat. It felt like the July when the air-conditioning at his house had gone out during a heat wave. Considering that was one of his least favorite months ever, he didn't get  _volunteering_  to do that to yourself.

"Secret of our success," Gage said, sniggering a little at a joke Xander didn't get. Not that he thought it would actually be a  _good_  joke. Even by Xander's standards, Gage was kind of an idiot. "Can't win state if we're all tied up in knots."

Or, you know, if you were eaten by a monster, but bringing that up would not be good for his cover, so Xander just sat down on the wooden bench.

And there was absolutely no good reason why Gage had to sit next to him, instead of on the other side of the room like any sane guy would. Two guys, one steam room; there was plenty of space for both of them, and absolutely no call for what Gage was doing: leaning back with his hands behind his head, his legs splayed, and his towel definitely not doing its job. Assuming its job was to actually  _cover up_  anything.

"So, how long do we have to stay in here?" Xander asked. That was a tactful step up from the question he was asking  _himself_ , which was along the lines of "How long do I have to sit here sautéing myself in a room where the only thing to look at is Gage Petronzi's dick?" Because seriously, he could think of at least a thousand things he'd rather be looking at than Gage Petronzi's anything. Sure, Gage was a nicer guy than Cameron, but that was like saying being beheaded was better than being disemboweled because you died faster.

Well, maybe not quite that bad, but still, Xander was standing by his main point, which was essentially,  _Dear God, why can't I look away?_

Gage looked over at him and shrugged. "Twenty minutes or so."

Oh. Great. "It's getting kind of late," Xander said. "I wasn't expecting to be here this long. I should probably get going. Besides, I didn't do all that much at practice today. I don't really  _need_  to relax." He slid farther down on the bench, away from Gage and his total lack of modesty.

"You don't exactly look relaxed," Gage said. He grinned. "Besides, Coach told me to show you the ropes."

Xander shrugged. "So you've shown me."

Gage was still grinning. "Don't want you to feel like you're not part of the team." He shifted again, the towel falling completely away, and now Xander really couldn't make himself look anywhere else.

He wanted to, of course. Quick comparisons were okay, and he'd been quietly smug about the results of that competition, thank you very much, even if it had only existed in his head. But now any more looking at Gage's cock was going to fall into the arena of "ogling."

If Xander was going to ogle naked guys, he'd rather not start with Gage Petronzi. "I'm, uh, I'm part of the team," he said. "Go Razorbacks! Win state!"

Gage laughed. "Chill, Harris," he said. "You're acting like you expect me to tie bricks to your feet and throw you back in the pool." He slid a little bit closer, and when Xander moved back, he discovered he was already against the wall. "I'm just trying to show you the ropes."

"The ropes," Xander repeated. "You know, there's one particular, um, 'rope,' that I'd rather not see any more of." He nodded toward Gage's lap.

Rolling his eyes, Gage said, "That was lame." Then he moved closer again, and Xander really wished he didn't need to be keeping an eye on Gage. If he didn't, he'd be free to get up and leave right now.

Then a hand came down on Xander's towel-clad thigh, and Xander had to stifle his startled yelp. "I get it," Xander said, his voice cracking a little as the hand on his thigh began to move. "Haze the new guy. It's some kind of glorious swim team tradition, right?"

"What?" Gage said, blinking. Maybe he was just trying to keep sweat out of his eyes, but he really did look confused. "Nobody's hazing you. Like I said, I want you to feel like you're part of the team."

"Since when did that translate into  _being felt by_  part of the team? Look, Gage, I don't know where you got the idea that I--that I'd be into that kind of thing--" And what, was  _every_ jock at this school gay? Was that some kind of weird hellmouthy side effect?

"Into  _what_  kind of thing?" Oh, crap. Had he jumped to the wrong conclusion? Maybe it was perfectly normal for sweaty athletic guys to sit naked in a steam room groping their teammates' thighs. And getting hard.

He was really going to look away from Gage Junior any second now.

"Uh," he began. "The, um. Some people--not me, but some people--might say that copping a feel in the steam room was kind of, well, gay. Which is fine, if you are, but I'm just, you know, not into that kind of thing."

"Give me a break," Gage said, laughing. "This isn't  _gay._ "

"Oh," Xander said. "Okay. Good. Glad to hear it." There was a long pause, and then he said, in what sounded to him like a pathetically small voice, "Then could you take your hand off my leg?"

"Sure you want me to?" Gage's hand moved farther up, and Xander thought he heard himself whimper. In fear, of course, because one damp towel was the only thing keeping him from actually  _having Gage Petronzi's hand on his dick_. And totally not in frustration because there was a damp towel keeping him from having a big, warm hand actually on his dick.

"Um," Xander said. "Can you explain to the new guy exactly how this  _isn't_  gay?"

Xander was pretty sure that was the first time Gage ever got to look at someone like he was a moron. "Dude," Gage said. "This doesn't  _count_."

"As what?"

He was answered with a shrug. "Anything," Gage said. Now he reached over and untucked the end of Xander's towel. Again, Xander reminded himself that he was undercover to protect Gage, and if this was what it took to gain his trust, then this was what he had to do.

It  _didn't_  count. He was  _undercover_. It wasn't gay, it wasn't cheating on Cordy, it was just him doing whatever he had to do to protect Gage. And the fact that Gage's hand felt really, really good on his dick was just a bonus. Like cops getting free coffee at Denny's or something.

"So what is it?" Xander said, because apparently even Gage Petronzi starting to  _jerk him off_  wasn't enough to make his mouth stop working.

Another impatient snort. "Showing you the ropes. Making you feel like part of the team." He grinned. "I told you, the steam room's for relaxing your muscles."

This was supposed to be relaxing? "Gage, anybody could come in here."

"Nobody's here," Gage said. "Coach went home an hour ago. Even the janitors don't work this late."

Buffy was probably here, Xander thought. Buffy and Willow and Oz were all probably in the library, and eventually if they walked past and heard this-- "Embarrassed" didn't even begin to cover it. "Changing his name and moving to Thailand" just barely started coming close.

But he was undercover, Xander reminded himself, and this was just part of the territory. "Yeah," he said. "Okay."

Gage's hand dropped to his side; then he turned on the bench so that he was facing Xander. As Xander shifted toward him, Xander's towel gave up the ghost and fell onto the floor. Okay. It wasn't like he'd never been completely naked in front of a guy--hell, in front of  _Gage_ \--before. He'd taken gym. He'd showered. He'd sneaked his share of peeks. This wasn't new.

Then Gage's hand went back to Xander's now very interested dick, and that? That was new. "Come on," Gage said. "Fair's fair."

It took Xander a second to figure out what he was talking about. When he did, he was glad that he was already flushed from the heat, and Gage wouldn't have any idea just how much he was blushing. "Sorry," he said, after a moment, feeling suddenly clumsy as he reached out and wrapped his hand around Gage's erection.

All part of going undercover, he told himself as Gage started to stroke him again.

This wasn't  _quite_  like jerking himself off, but it was close enough that for now at least, Xander could buy into Gage's insistence that this didn't count for anything. And that meant that he could focus his attention on the little grunts and groans Gage made as Xander started moving his hand, the feeling of Gage's hand on Xander's own cock. And of course he needed to be paying attention. He needed to maintain his cover.

Gage, it turned out, mostly liked the same things Xander did; when Xander tightened his grip, hand sliding faster up and down the length of Gage's cock, he groaned. And then Gage was doing the same thing to him, his thumb rubbing over the head of Xander's cock. Xander closed his eyes, biting his lip to keep from whimpering.

God, he wished they were somewhere other than the steam room, he thought as he gulped in hot, moist air; it felt like he couldn't get enough air, and it was starting to make his head spin. Or maybe that was just the fact that he didn't think any blood was making it above his waist right now.

Gage didn't look even slightly embarrassed by any of this, and Xander wondered if maybe that meant he'd done this a lot. Maybe the whole swim team was doing this every time the coach wasn't around. Maybe he should have gotten into sports earlier, he thought, his hips shifting forward to follow the movement of Gage's hand. The coaches who'd come to encourage his eighth-grade P.E. class to try out for the junior varsity teams had talked about character-building and physical fitness and school spirit. Nobody had ever mentioned orgasms. In Xander's opinion, that would be a  _way_  better selling point.

And he was getting embarrassingly close to that particular selling point right now; a few more seconds of the slide of a roughened palm along his cock and he was biting down harder on his lip, trying not to make too much noise. After that one groan, Gage had been almost silent, and Xander was trying to follow his lead. He was supposed to be fitting in with the swim team, wasn't he?

Gage's thumb slid over Xander's cockhead again, and that was all it took; Xander closed his eyes as he came, a hot sticky mess on Gage's hand and his own stomach.

There were a few seconds when the only things he could hear were his own heartbeat and his breathing; then Gage said, "Hey. Finish the job, Harris."

Xander nodded, giving Gage an apologetic grin as he began to pump Gage's erection again. And now that he wasn't paying attention to how good it felt to have someone else touching him, he was feeling even more embarrassed, kind of wanting to just get it all over with. Gage didn't seem to mind, though, since that meant that Xander's hand was moving faster in an attempt to get him off so they could get out of here.

He wasn't as grossed out as he thought he was going to be when Gage came; it wasn't any worse than when he did this to himself, and there was an extra little thrill of... pride, maybe. He was going with "pride," because every other option was going to mean locking himself in his bedroom and never facing anyone ever again. He'd been okay at this. He hadn't let the team down, or whatever the hell Gage had been saying when all of this started.

And now he'd be able to clean up, get dressed, go home, and forget all about this.

Gage grinned at him lazily, reaching for his abandoned towel. "I told you the steam room was relaxing," he said, using the towel to start cleaning himself off. Xander fumbled for his own towel to do the same.

"Uh, yeah," Xander said. "Very, um, relaxing." He forced a smile in return. He had no idea what was going to happen now, and was still halfway convinced that this was all a big joke that was about to blow up in his face.

"Get up," Gage said, grabbing Xander's arm and pulling him to his feet. "We've been in here too long already."

That was just about the truest thing Xander could remember hearing, so he followed Gage back out to the locker room.

Xander managed to pull his pants on without giving in to the urge to babble just to fill the silence. It was okay, he told himself. This was just a swim-team thing. He hadn't done anything stupid, and more importantly, he hadn't blown his cover.

"See you at practice tomorrow," Gage said, picking up his bag, and Xander nodded.

"Sure thing," he said. Then, as the door closed behind Gage, Xander realized that he was supposed to be keeping an eye on him, making sure whatever had gotten Dodd and Cameron didn't come after Gage, too.

Xander quickly finished getting dressed and grabbed his own bag, running after him. Once he was outside the school, he could see Gage about half a block ahead. Xander decided not to try to catch up; Gage was heading in the same direction that Xander was, anyway, and it would probably look weird if Xander wanted to walk with him. It might not blow Xander's cover, but it'd give Gage the wrong idea, and it'd probably make it impossible for him to keep tabs on Gage any more.

He wasn't sure where Gage lived, but he kept walking in the direction of Xander's house, so that worked out okay. When Gage finally turned off Xander's route, Xander stopped, wondering if he should follow. Then he realized that the only thing down that street--at least the only thing open at this time of night--was the Bronze.

There'd be a crowd, and so Gage would be okay. Whatever the thing was that had killed Dodd and Cameron, it wouldn't go after Gage in a crowd.

And tomorrow, Buffy would keep an eye on him, until it was time for swim practice, when Xander would take over.

He was starting to get good at this "undercover" thing, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> [me on tumblr](https://mireille719.tumblr.com)


End file.
